If you want to just play with some sample projects provided in the IDE, choose
File > New Project, then open the Samples category and the C/C++ subcategory. The IDE
provides several sample C and C++ projects to help you familiarize
yourself with the IDE.

Creating C and C++ Projects

NetBeans C/C++ support lets you create C and C++ Application
and Library projects with generated makefiles, as well as C and C++ projects
with existing sources.

You can build, run, and debug your project on the local host (the system
from which you started the IDE) or on a remote host running a UNIX®
operating system. For information on specifying the tool collection for your
project and on defining and using remote hosts, see Defining Your C/C++ Project's Development Environment.

With a C/C++ Application, Dynamic Library, or Static Library project, the
IDE controls all aspects
of how your application is built, run, and debugged. You specify project settings
when creating the project and in the Project Properties dialog box. The IDE
generates a makefile in which all of your settings are stored.

Creating a C/C++ Application Project

Open the New Project wizard by choosing File > New Project.

In the wizard, select the C/C++ category.

The wizard gives you a choice of several types of new projects.
Select C/C++ Application and click Next.

Create a new C/C++ Application project from the wizard using the defaults.
You can choose the name of the project and the location of the project.

Click Finish to exit the wizard.

A project is created with logical folders.
A logical folder is not a directory. It is a way for you to organize your
files and does not
reflect where the files are physically stored on disk. Files added to logical
folders are automatically part of the project and are compiled when you build
the project.

Files added to the Important Files folder are not part of the project and are
not compiled when you build the project. These files are just for reference
and are convenient when you have a project with an existing makefile.

Switching Between the Logical View and the Physical View of the Project

A project has both a logical and a physical view.
You can switch between the logical view and the physical view of your
project.

Select the Files tab. This window shows the physical view of your
project. It displays files and folders as they are stored on disk.

Select the Projects tab. This window shows the logical view of
your project.

Most commands that you run on a project are available in the Projects
tab, not the Files tab.

Adding Files and Folders to Your Project

You can add logical folders to your project.

Right-click the project node of your Application project
and choose New Logical Folder. A new logical folder is added to the project.

Right-click the new logical folder and select Rename. Type the name
you would like to give the new folder.

You can add both
files and folders to an existing folder. Logical folders can be nested.

Adding New Files to Your Project

You can add new files to your project.

Right-click the Source Files folder and choose New
> C++ Source File.

On the Name and Location page of the New File dialog box, type newfile in the File Name field.

Click Finish.

The newfile.cpp file is created on disk in the
directory specified in the wizard and added to the Source Files folder. You
can add any kind of file to this folder, not only source files.

Adding More New Files to Your Project

Right-click the Header Files folder and choose New > C++ Header
File.

On the Name and Location page of the New File dialog box, type newfile in the File Name field.

Click Finish.

The newfile.h file is created on disk in the directory specified in the wizard
and added to the Header Files folder.

Adding Existing Files to Your Project

You can add existing files to your project in two ways:

Right-click the Source Files folder and choose Add Existing Item.
You can point to an existing file on disk using the Select Item
dialog box and add the file to the project.

Do not use New menu item to add existing items. The Name and Location panel
will tell you the file already exists.

Setting Project Properties

When the project is created, it has two configurations: Debug and Release.
A configuration is a collection of settings used for the project, which allows you
to easily switch many settings at once when you select a configuration.
The Debug configuration builds a version of your application that includes
debug information.
The Release configuration builds an optimized version.

The Project Properties dialog box contains build and configuration information
for your project. To open the Project Properties dialog box:

Right-click the project node of the
CppApplication_1 project and choose Properties.

You can modify the build tool defaults, compiler settings, and other configuration settings in the
Project Properties dialog box by selecting a node in the left panel and modifying
the properties in the right panel. Select some of the nodes and property
values and notice the properties you can set. When you set General
properties, you are setting them in all configurations of the project.
When you set Build, Run, or Debug properties, you are setting properties
in the currently selected configuration.

Managing Configurations

Properties changed in the Project Properties window are stored in the
makefile for the current configuration. You can edit the default configurations
or create new ones. To create a new configuration:

In the Configurations dialog box, select the configuration that most
closely matches your desired configuration. In this case, select the
Release configuration and click the Duplicate button. Then click Rename.

In the Rename dialog box, rename the
configuration to PerformanceRelease. Click OK.

Click OK in the Configurations dialog box.

In the left panel, select the C Compiler node.

In the Project Properties dialog box, note that the PerformanceRelease
configuration is selected in the Configuration drop-down list.

In the property sheet in the right panel, change the Development
Mode from Release to PerformanceRelease. Click OK.

You have created a new configuration that will compile the application with a
different set of options.

Setting Source File Properties

When you set the project properties for your C or C++ project, the relevant
properties apply to all files in the project. You can also set some
properties on individual files.

Right-click the newfile.cpp source file in the Projects tab and choose Properties.

Click the General category and see that you can specify a different compiler
or other tool to build this file. You can also use a checkbox to exclude the file
from the build of the currently selected project configuration.

Click the C++ Compiler category and see that you can override the project compiler settings
and other properties for this file.

Cancel the File Properties dialog box.

Building and Rebuilding Your Project

To build your project:

Right-click the project node and choose Build, and the project
builds. The build output is shown in the Output window.

Switch the configuration from Debug to PerformanceRelease in the configuration
drop-down list in the main toolbar. Now the project will be built using the
PerformanceRelease configuration.

Right-click the project node and choose Build, and the project
builds. The build output is shown in the Output window.

To rebuild your project:

Right-click the project node and choose Clean and Build to do
a complete rebuild after removing previous build products.

Right-click the project node and choose Build to do an incremental build.
Previous build products are retained if their source files have not changed.

You can build, clean, or both clean and build the project
by choosing actions from the Run menu or using tool bar buttons.
The project also keeps object
files and executables from different configurations separate, so
you do not have to worry about mixing files from multiple configurations.

Compiling a Single File

To compile a single source file:

Right-click on the main.cpp file and choose
Compile File. Only this file is compiled.

Single file compilation is not supported for the project type
C/C++ Project With Existing Sources.

Running a Project

To see how to run a project, you will use the IDE's sample Arguments project.
The Arguments program prints command-line arguments. Before running the
program, you will set some arguments in the current configuration. Then you will run
the program.

To create the Arguments project, set some arguments, and run the project:

Creating a C/C++ Project With Existing Sources

When creating a C/C++ Project With Existing Sources, the IDE relies on your
existing makefile for instructions on how to compile and run your application.

In this exercise, you download and install the sources for the open source Loki C++ library. Loki
requires the Pthreads library to build, which is available by default on Linux, Solaris, and Mac OS X. If you
are using Windows, you must download the Pthreads library before you can create a project
using the Loki source files.

On the Select Mode page, click the Browse button. In the Select Project Folder
dialog box, navigate to the
directory where you saved
loki-0.1.7. Select the loki-0.1.7 directory.
Click Select.

Use the default Configuration Mode, Automatic. Click Finish.

The project is created and opened in the Projects tab, and the IDE
automatically runs the Clean and Build actions specified in the existing Makefile. The project
is also automatically configured for code assistance.

Creating a C/C++ Project from a Binary File

You can create a C/C++ project from an existing binary file.

Choose File > New Project.

Select the C/C++ category.

Select C/C++ Project from Binary File and click Next.

On the Select Binary File page of the New Project wizard,
click the Browse button. In the Select Binary File dialog box, navigate to
the binary file from which you want to create a project.

The
root directory for the source files from which the binary was built is filled
in automatically. By default, only the source files from which the binary
was built are included in the project. By default, dependencies are included
in the project. The shared libraries required by the project are automatically
listed.

Click Next.

On the Project Name and Location page, you can choose the
name and location of the project. Click Finish.

Building and Rebuilding Your Project

To build the project:

Right-click the project node of the project and choose Build.

To rebuild the project:

Right-click the project node of the project and choose Clean and Build.